Concrete mixing and distributing apparatus



April 6, 1935. F. E. BAGER :1 AL 1,997,847

CONCRETE MIXING AND DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Filed March 1, 1954 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q2) A FFQUQFJ/JEEE QP April 16, 1935. F, E. BAGER ET AL CONCRETE MIXING AND DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Filed March 1, 1934 3 SheetsSheet 2 w. 5, m 0%.. 5% @PW I A ril 16, 1935. F. BAGER ET AL 1,997,847

CONCRETE MIXING AND DISTRIBUTING APIARATUS I Filed March 1, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 DAM Wu the tower,

Patented Apr. 16, 1935 CONCRETE VMIXING AND DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Frederic E. Bager, South Milwaukee, Wis and Walter Solberg, Sarpsborg, Norway, assi'gnors to T. L. Smith Company, Milwaukee, Wis, a cor poration of Wisconsin Application March 1, 1934.,Serial No. 71am 12 Claims.

This invention relates to concrete mixing and distributing apparatus-of the type forming the subject matter of the co-pending application of.

Frederic E. Eager, Serial No. 491,496, filed Oc-.

tober 2'7, 1930. p I

Apparatus of thistype is especially useful on projects which extend over considerable distances and where it is desirable to elevate the concrete for distribution; and comprises generally a portable mixer with a distributing tower mounted thereon. As in the aforesaid application, the hoisting tower is equipped with concrete Y elevating and distributing means, and the tower is movable from anupright operative position to a lowered inoperative position disposed over the mixer afor portability.

It is a particular object of the present invention to provide improved means for raising and lowering the tower.

In past constructions, it has been recognized to be advantageous to employ-the power unit of the mixer for raising and lowering the tower, and various methods of utilizing this driving force have been employed with varying degrees of success.

The present invention contemplates an extremely-simple manner of utilizing the motive power of the mixer for raising and lowering the tower and accomplishes this object by connecting the lower end of the tower'with the traction units of the mixer when it is desired to raise or lower so that forward or backward motion of the-mixer, causes thetower to swingbetween raised and lowered positions.

With the above andother objects inview which will appear as the description proceeds, our invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended-claims, it being under stood that such changes in. the precise embodi ment of the hereindisclosed invention. may be made as come within the scope of theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, we havelillustrated' one-completeexample of the physical embodiment of our invention constructed according to the best mode we have so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in-whichz Figure l is a: sideelevationillustratingthe com pleteunit set up for use;

Figure 2 is a side elevationillustrating the manner of lowering the tower; V s

Figured is a side elevation illustratingthe unit ready for transportatiom-and V Figure 4 is a cross section View looking down on top of themachine, said view being taken onthe plane of the line ll of Figure 1'.-

Referring nowmore particularly t the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals indicats likepartsthroughout the several views, the

numeral 5 indicates generally a concrete mixing machine of the type commonly known as a paver, and which is portably mounted on a pair of con ventional creeping or self-laying'traction members E5. The mixing machine comprises a frame '5, in which a mixing drum 8 is rotatably mounted to be driven from'a power unit 9. j

The mixing drum is adapted to be charged with materials to be mixed by a loading skip l0 pivotally mounted from the frame, and is adapted to discharge its contents into a chute H, which directs the mixed materials into a bucket 12}. The bucket 52 is mounted to travel along a tower i3 associated with the machine to elevate the H mixed materials to a hopper l4 mounted on-the tower at a, desired elevation. Conventional trip ping mechanism (not shown) is providedto automatically trip the'bucket l2 as it reaches the. hopper l4 so that its contents are automatically discharged into the hopper.

. The hopper it, as is customary,'.is provided with a discharge gate [5, which, when open,allows its contents to drop down onto a chute l6,

which is of sectional construction, and is adjust-.7

ably mounted on the tower by suitable; supports H and I8. The'outer section IQ of the vchutejis arranged to be moved about todirect the discharge of the materials as desired.

Thetower ii 3 is supported from the; mixing machine to be movable therewith in its upright operative position to allow the entire equipment to be advanced'as the job progresses, and when collapsed, tobe supported-by the machine ina horizontal position "to permit more rapidtrans portation.

The'specific t wer employed is of 'thethree sided type having only a front and two sides,,the rearmost portions 28 of the sides forming tracks to guide the elevation and descent of the bucket l 2; It is, of course, understood that proper hoisting cables are provided to raise and lower the bucket and that these cables are wound upon drums .(not shown) carried bythe mixing machine and driven from the power unit 9.

For reasons hereinaiter to be more fully set a forth, the tower is of sectional constructionand comprises an upper section 21* and a lower section '22, hingedly connected as at 23} Atthe 'point'of hingedconnection ofthe tower sections,

the tower is also hingedly connected to supports 24 carried by the frame 1 of the mixing machine.

When in upright operative position, and during the erection and lowering of the tower, its upper and lower sections are bolted together as at 22', but when the tower is completely collapsed, as illustrated in Figure 3, the sections are detached from each other and the lower section folded down to its vertical position to decrease the overall length of the unitand thus facilitate its transportatio'n.

To add to the rigidity of the structure when the tower is in its upright operative position, braces 25 extend diagonally from the tower to the supporting structure 24. These braces; when the tower is folded down to its position illustrated in Figure 3, are also used to support the overhanging end of the tower by being attached to the tower as at 26 and to the frame of the machine as at. 21.

It is noted from Figure 1, that when the tower is in its raised operative position, its lower end rests on pillow blocks 28, which are removed when the unit is to be advanced.

Manner of raising and lowering the tower Assuming that the tower is in its raised operative position, and that it is desired to lower the same to its position shown in Figure 3, the distributing chutes l6 and 19 with their supporting brackets i1 and [8, are first lowered and then detached. Then the hopper I4 is lowered and secured to the lower section 22.

To facilitate raising and lowering of the hopper, a cable 38 is provided, one end of which. is attached to the hopper and the other end trained over suitable sheaves and connected to any takeup mechanism (not shown). The bucket I2 is also brought to its lowermost position so that the hopper and the bucket serve to partially counterbalance the extended upper end portion of the tower during the actual lowering and raising. The braces 25 are then removed and the tower is ready to be lowered.

To lower the tower, its extreme lowermost end portion is connected by links 31 to the creeping traction units 6. One of these links 3! is attached on each side of theunit as shown in Figure 4, and when the tower is upright, the connection of the links. to the traction units is at their rearmos portions as illustrated in Figure 1.

With the links 3| firmly connected to the lower end of the tower and to the creeping traction units, and thetower properly freed from the frame 1 of the machine, the machine is moved backwardly which has the effect of carrying the hinge point 23 to the right with respect toFigures 1 and 2, and of holding the lower end of the tower stationary. Obviously, this action causes the tower to descend and owing to the vast supply of power and easy control of the traction units, the descent of the tower is at all times under perfect control and is effected without strain upon any part of the structure.

The point of attachment of the links to the lowerend of the tower as to its distance from the hinge point 23, is so located with respect to the length of the traction units, that the proper degree of movement on the part of thetower is obtained.

After the tower has been completely lowered, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2, the bolts 22' holding the upper and lower sections of the tower together, are removed and then by a forward movement of the machine, the lower section is returned to its vertical position shown in Figure 3. The links 3i are then removed, and with the overhanging upper end of the tower supported by the braces 25, the entire unit is ready for transport.

To raisev the tower to its position of use, it is only necessary to reverse the procedure described, that is, first the lower section is raised to a horizontal position through the medium of the traction units and the links SI, and then after the tower sections are connected, the entire tower may be swung to its vertical position by a reverse movement on the part of the machine.

From the'foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, that this invention afiords a simple and very effective manner of raising and lowering the. tower of a combined concrete mixing and distributing unit.

What we claim as our invention is: 1. In a mixing and distributing apparatus, the

combination of a mixing machine, a traction; member portably mounting the machine, a dis-- tributing tower movably supported from the machine for movement between an upright operative position and a lowered inoperative position, and means cooperating between said traction member and the tower for raising and lowering the tower. V

2. In a combined material mixing and distributing apparatus, a mixing machine including a frame, a traction unit to portably mountthe machine, a distributing tower pivotally mounted on the frame for movement from anupright operative position to a lowered inoperative position, and means cooperating between the traction unit and the tower for raising and lowering the tower.

3. A combined material mixing and distributing apparatus comprising, a mixing machine, an endless traction unit to portably mount the machine, a tower movably mounted from the machine, and means cooperating between the tower and the endless traction unit to raise and lower the tower. V v

4. A combined material mixing and distributing apparatus comprising, a mixing machine, an endless traction unit to portably mount the machine, a distributing tower pivotally connected with the machine for movement from an upright operative position to a lowered inoperative position, and means to connect the endless traction, unit with the tower so that movement-of themachine by the endless traction unit eifects the raising and lowering of the tower. V

5. A combined material mixing and distributing apparatus comprising a mixing machine, ground engaging means to portably mount the mixing machine, a tower hinged to the machine, and means to connect the tower with the ground engaging means so that movement of the mixing machine by the ground engaging means moves the tower about its hinged mounting.

6. A combined material mixing and distributing apparatus comprising a mixing machine, ground engaging means to portably mount the mixing machine, a'tower hingedly mounted from the mixing machine at a point intermediate its ends and adjacent thelower end thereof, and means to connect the tower at a point beneath its hinged mounting with the ground engaging means so that forward and backward movement of the machine by its ground engaging means swings the tower about its hinged mounting.

7. A combined material mixing and distributing apparatus comprising, a mixing machine, ground engaging means to portably mount the mixing machine, a tower hingedly mounted from the mixing machine at a point substantially elevated from the ground, and means to connect the tower at a distance from its hinged connection with the machine with said ground engaging means so that the tower is swung about its hinged connection with the machine as the machine is moved forward or backward by the ground enaging means.

8. In a combined material mixing and distributing apparatus, a mixing machine including a frame, ground engaging means to portably mount the machine, a distributing tower, means to hingedly connect the distributing tower with the frame of the machine for swinging movement between an upright operative position and a low-' ered inoperative position, and a connection between the ground engaging means and the tower at a point spaced from its hinged connection with the frame for swinging the tower about its hinged connection with the frame by moving the machine forward or backward on its ground engaging means. I

9. In a combined material mixing and distributing apparatus, a mixing machine, an endless traction unit to portably mount the machine, a distributing tower, means to hingedly mount the distributing tower from the mixing machine for swinging movement between an upright operative position and a lowered inoperative position, and a rigid connecting link connecting the tower at a point spaced from its hinged mounting with the endless traction unit, 7

whereby backward or forward motion of the machine by its endless traction unit induces swinging movement on the part of the tower.

10. In a combined material mixing and distributing apparatus, a mixing machine having a frame, ground engaging means to portably mount the machine, a distributing tower hingedly mounted on the frame and comprising an upper section and a lowersection adapted to be connected in alignment and to be separated for movement to positions angularly disposed with respect to each other, means to raise and lower the tower comprising, a connection between the ground engaging means and. the lower tower section, whereby forward or backward movement of the machine swings the tower while its sections are connected to and from raised and lowered positions, and whereby the lower section is movable to and from a position aligned with the upper section when the sections are separated, and the upper section is in its lowermost position.

11. In a combined concrete mixing and distributing apparatus, a mixing machine including a frame, a traction unit to portably mount the machine, a distributing tower hingedly mounted on the machine and comprising an upper and a lower section hingedly connected, means to hold the tower sections in alignment, said means being detachable to permit the sections to assume positions at angles with respect to each other, the lower section serving to counterbalance the upper section during raising and lowering of the tower about its hinged connection with the machine, and a connection between the lower section and the traction unit through which the tower is raised and lowered when the tower sections are connected upon forward or backward movement of the machine by its traction unit and whereby the lower section is raised and lowered to and from alignment with the upper section when the upper section is in its lowered position upon backward or forward movement of the machine bythe traction unit.

12. In a combined material mixing and distributing unit, a mixing machine, a distributing tower hingedly mounted on the mixing machine, and comprising hingedly connected sections adapted to be moved from positions of alignment to positions angularly disposed with respect to each other, and common means to raise and lower the tower when the sections are rigidly connected in alignment and to move one section to and from alignment with the other section when disconnected.

FREDERIC E. BAGER. WALTER SOLBERG. 

